


Wedding Date

by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Conversations, F/M, Introspection, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-17 18:23:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14194986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer
Summary: Terezi and Dave get reacquainted at Rose and Kanaya's wedding.





	Wedding Date

**Author's Note:**

  * For [raininshadows](https://archiveofourown.org/users/raininshadows/gifts).



> The two chief differences from the post-canon world shown in the credits are: A) the world is not divided into four species-specific "kingdoms," and B) when the players jumped forward in time, they slipped into the new world as private citizens rather than being received as creators/founders and turned into political figureheads.

Three hours in to Kanaya and Rose's wedding reception, after the meal, the cake, the ceremonial tossing of fertility symbols, and a handful of dances, Terezi judges that she's done enough socializing to keep up appearances and fades toward the edge of the synagogue gathering room, tumbler of vodka and Moon Mist Faygo held loosely in her right hand. There's an alcove near the double doors with a cushioned window seat that looks like a good place to kill another hour or two, until she can leave without insulting anyone.

The trouble with an obvious hiding place, of course, is that other people might also realize its brilliance and try to occupy it first.

"Long time no see, coolkid," she says as she thumps down onto the window seat beside Dave. "You smell handsome today."

"Same to you, T-Z, though I gotta say neon paisley was not something I was previously aware existed, and having seen it, I'm not sure this was a fact I needed to learn."

"Excuse you, this delicious bouquet of scents is the finest salamander fashion of the season and I will hear no disparaging words against it. Besides," Terezi adds with a grin, "Kanaya has already said all of them, and with more glorious outrage than you could bring to the subject. It was beautiful. I might have cried in admiration."

Dave leans back against the chilly glass. "Ha. Yeah, she wasn't thrilled about my suit, either. Traffic lights were brought up as similes. But hey, you gotta be you, I gotta be me, and in both cases this includes vivid visual statements of intent. And like I said, neon paisley or not, you look good."

Terezi tells herself the warmth in her chest is only the mix of chemicals in her drink metabolizing. This is, of course, a lie, but if she repeats it firmly enough, she can make it a little bit true, and that should keep her from making any embarrassing social gaffes.

"I always look good," she says with a smile both less toothy and more genuine than most she's managed today. "But anyway, enough of compliments. I am given to understand that Rose picked this venue because of family affiliation with its religious purpose. Do you come here often?"

Dave shrugs one shoulder, making the lines of his suit shift in intriguing swirls of red. "Define often. Like, do I come for the super religious stuff? Fuck no, not my style. But you've gotta respect a meme that manages to survive the death of its original universe, besides which a religion based on yelling at the power behind the multiverse when it tries to weasel out of contracts or generally acts like a dick is definitely one I can get behind. And Roxy's into family bonding shit, so yeah, I tag along now and then. What about you -- got any regular social shindigs with your college peeps?"

Terezi takes a sip of her drink, letting the bright colors and flavors roll across her tongue. "No. But if this party is a fair example of the general level of entertainment to be found in large gatherings, I might have to reconsider that stance. Who would have thought our friends were such masterful dancers!"

She points haphazardly toward the dance floor, and then belatedly realizes her finger is aimed right at Karkat and Jade, who are holding hands and swinging each other around in a tight circle, faster and faster with each revolution, until they finally lose their grip and stumble apart laughing breathlessly. Terezi winces. That was remarkably tactless of her, and not in an amusing way.

Dave makes a noncommittal noise and clenches his fingers against the seam of his trousers. On the dance floor, Jade turns to steal Kanaya out of Rose's arms while a trio of unfamiliar humans rope Karkat into something that might have square dancing in its distant ancestry. They smell not only happy, but _solid_ , settled into themselves in a way Terezi isn't sure she's ever felt.

Oh well, might as well be arrested for grand larceny since she's already stolen the first caegar. "Karkat seems to be doing quite well these days," Terezi says. "I admit, I am very jealous! Back on Alternia, I always assumed I would be the one who had my life together once we joined the fleet while he would crash and burn, but it seems I had that entirely backwards. Now he's the life of the party and I'm hiding in a corner."

Dave's blank expression cracks, wavers, and settles into a wry smile. "Just like me. The two coolest kids grown up to be the uncoolest adults in the room. Teenage Dave would jizz himself over the irony, before going off to commit preemptive seppuku like an emotionally stunted assbutt."

Terezi pokes his shoulder with the index finger of her free hand. "Shush, you. I won't stand for anyone slandering Teenage Terezi's best friend and partner in crime."

Dave pokes her in return. "Bzzzzt, the court calls bullshit. A, your best friend and criminal cahootsmate was Vriska Serket, and B, it's not slander if it's true. I was a dumbass who couldn't admit to any actual feelings without ten layers of irony plate-armor and a bubble of industrial strength foam insulation. I like to think I've gotten a little better about that over the years. Allow me my illusion of personal growth."

"A, Vriska was not my hatefriend, she was my sister," Terezi says, "and B... okay, yes, you were a dumbass. But so was I. We all were. I think it is an immutable law of nature that kids are dumbasses. In fact, most adults are also dumbasses. We simply have more experience and so are better able to recognize when we are falling into dumbassery instead of only realizing after the fact."

"I think this whole conversation probably counts as dumbassery," Dave says, grinning.

Terezi snorts into her drink. "You're probably right," she admits. "But what are friends for, if not stupid conversations that distract us from our bigger problems?"

Dave glances back toward the dance floor, where their old friends are celebrating and mingling with new friends Terezi either hasn't heard of at all or can't quite match to occasional mentions in emails and photos on VisageScroll, and sighs. "Good question. I ask myself that one a lot."

Terezi mentally kicks herself for ruining her nearly successful social save. "Anyway, we haven't talked much since I left Can Town for university," she says, wrenching the conversation onto a new track just as the music switches from something fast and pounding to a syrup-thick cascade of melismatic declarations of love. "What are you doing these days, besides occasionally yelling at the power behind the multiverse?"

Dave shrugs. "This and that. Taking a few classes at Can Town Community College, some freelance DJ gigs, a little bartending, a lot of shitty art. Trying to decide what the hell I want to do with my life now that we don't have a murder game hanging over our heads or the world's biggest planetary reconstruction project to tackle. Fixing my broken heart. I mean, I don't blame Karkat for taking a break -- he was right that we got kind of creepy codependent for a while, and we needed some space to figure out who we were on our own before trying to mash our lives together for keeps -- but "it's not you, it's me" still sucks, you know? And I've been kinda drifting now that I don't have anyone around to bum motivation off of."

"Mnh," Terezi says into her tumbler. "I know the feeling."

"Tragically single and useless lumps of the multiverse, unite," Dave says, inflectionless, before he cracks and lets the corners of his mouth tilt upward. "I never would have pegged you as someone who didn't know exactly where you were going. Guess you just had a better poker face than me."

Terezi reminds herself that the warmth in her chest is simply a chemical reaction. "People are much less likely to pry under the surface if the surface looks alive and cheerful," she says. "Which, in retrospect, was probably not great for my mental health. Hindsight!"

"Hindsight," Dave agrees. "But hey, you've got meds these days, right? And you've got actual life goals again, even if I still think they're completely fucking nuts. Being a vet doesn't sound any safer than being a lawyer in the Alternian court system, especially given the kinds of crazy alien and mutated pets we've got kicking around this recycled planet. But whatever floats your goat. Or your hoofbeast, whichever."

"Definitely the goat. I feel a profound spiritual affinity for animals that will attempt to eat metal and escape up sheer vertical surfaces."

"What even are goats? We just don't know," Dave says.

"Truly, a great and unsolved mystery," Terezi agrees. She takes another sip of her drink and decides to blame intoxication for her next words. "I will tell you the secret answer to another mystery, however. My life goals are something of an elaborate fraud. I just picked a career that reminded me of my friends. Nepeta, Tavros, and Feferi were all very interested in zoology, and I wanted to do something that helped me feel close to them, that couldn't be twisted to accidentally hurt anyone, and that had nothing whatsoever to do with Vriska."

Dave's eyebrows rise from behind his shades. "Ok. That's a little messed up, not gonna lie, but in the grand scheme of things I've heard worse. You don't secretly hate vet school, right?"

Terezi shakes her head. "It reminds me of fussing over my lusus -- though obviously in a much more hands-on way. Eggs are simple. Writhing slitherbeasts or upset cats, on the other talon..."

"Better you than me," Dave says.

"Truly, my courage is a shining example to us all," Terezi says wryly. "But you see, when I say I know what it's like to feel adrift, I'm not speaking in past tense. I also lost the people I used to bum motivation off of, and am rusty at generating my own. And spite only takes you so far."

"Yeah, spite's a dick -- promises the moons, but it conks out like a narcoleptic goldfish for anything like building an actual emotionally fulfilling life plan. But for short-term, it's not half bad. What say we go do something cool right here and now, to spite our own stupid lives and lack of direction?"

And create a show of confidence for their friends and former matesprits, presumably. Which may not be healthy in the long run, but it's not malicious and anyway, her therapist keeps saying Terezi needs more spontaneity in her life. So Terezi raises her own eyebrows, mirroring Dave, and says, "I am intrigued by your proposal and request further details."

"You, me, breakdancing contest with swords. Get everyone in the room looking on and clapping. First to drop their blade or fall on their ass loses, and loser has to-- to--"

"--has to take the winner out for a fancy meal tomorrow," Terezi says. "Since apparently I have been missing out on the social shindig front."

"Sure, yeah, let's go with that. Hell, let's make it a _romantic-type_ meal. Make everyone else jealous with the renewed flame of our deathless love."

It's hard to be sure, given the overwhelming scent of red drifting off his suit and the dark tint of his skin, but Terezi thinks Dave might be blushing. Which means he might also be fighting against an unexpected resurgence of warmth and affection. Which means perhaps she can stop blaming her feelings on her drink and instead start considering a move back to Can Town after her graduation next year.

If nothing else, a sword breakdance contest will be an excellent distraction, and what else are relationships for? "You're on," Terezi says, and takes Dave's hand as the music shifts into something that sets her blood on fire.


End file.
